pon-, posit-, pos-, -poning, -poned, -ponency, -ponent, -ponement, -pound

A technique used in obstetrics to facilitate childbirth: "With abdominal decomposition, the abdominal area is surrounded by an airtight chamber in which pressure may be intermittently decreased below atmospheric pressure."

"During child-labor pains, the doctor used abdominal decomposition to decrease the pressure so the uterus would be permitted to work more efficiently because the abdominal muscles were elevated away from the uterus."

Wind-borne soil accumulations: "We had to clean the aeolian deposits off the window sill after the severe wind storm."

1. To place side by side or in close proximity; to juxtapose: "She placed the two boxes so that they were apposing each other on the shelf."
2. To be placed near something, or to place or to move something next to something else: "The mother apposed the pictures in her album so they would be in the sequence in which she took them."

1. Especially well suited to the circumstances; particularly appropriate: "Those red flowers are the most apposite flowers for the table setting that she could think of.
2. Suitable; well-adapted; pertinent; relevant; apt: "The speaker gave more apposite answers to the challenging questions that were presented to him."

Well suited for the purpose; appropriate; properly applicable: "She appositely answered the teacher's question."

"The successful dictionary composer is known as a master of appositely written definitions and sentences that clearly show those definitions in action."

Being especially suitable and proper for the situation or occasion: "The appositeness of wearing a warm coat to the soccer match was a good decision because it became chillier as the game was being played."

1. The relative position of two things that are next to each other: "The vases were placed in apposition to each other on the shelf."
2. The quality of being side-by-side, not being front-to-front but next to each other: "The members of the marching band stood in apposition to each other as they prepared to play the national anthem."
3. A placing of two things side by side, or the fitting together of two things: "The two pieces of the puzzle fit in perfect apposition.
4. A grammar relationship between noun phrases in which the relationship between two usually consecutive nouns or noun phrases that refer to the same person or thing and have the same relationship to other sentence elements: "In the sentence, 'My son, an actor, lives with me'; the phrase, 'My son, an actor' is an example of apposition."

5. In physiology, cell growth in which layers of material are deposited on existing ones: "The doctor told me that the growth on the bottom of my heel was an example of cellular apposition."

Relating to someone or something or an adjective directly following the noun it modifies: "The Tea Party, which is an appositive movement of conservatives in the United States, has been gaining more influence in political meetings."

Words, or phrases, that refer to the same person or thing and have the same relationship to other sentence elements: "In the sentence, 'His friend, Martin, was a good student' the name 'Martin' is in apposition to 'His friend'."

An immediate reference that follows something else in order to explain the first reference: "For example, 'His mother, a devoted scholarly person, had a loyal following' is used appositively."

"Another appositively written sentence is 'James Jones, the president of the company, was a successful businessman.' "

1. Appropriate or proper in a specific situation: "He read an apropos passage to the class from the author’s new book."
2. At an opportune time: "There is never an apropos time to tell a child that a favorite pet has died."
3. Being at once opportune and to the point; being relevant: "It is very apropos to discuss going on a diet after an indulgent weekend of eating."
4. Etymology: from French à propos, "to the purpose" from propos, "purpose, plan", from Latin propositium, past participle of proponere, "to set forth, to propose".

In heraldry, divided into a single line made up of squares that alternate between metal and color, color and fur, or fur and metal: "The compone style of the new Parisian dresses, alternating squares of color and/or texture, reminded her of the heraldry that she saw in ancient castles."

1. A separate part of a whole, usually of something bigger: "He worked for a company that manufactured automobile components."

"All of the components of the peace agreement were set up; however, the head of the army had not given his final approval."

"A component is what is "put together with" other parts to make a whole structure."

2. A smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity, which often refers to a manufactured object that is part of a larger device: "This box contains the necessary components to complete the model doll house."
3. A device such as a resistor or transistor that is part of an electronic circuit: "The electrician has to replace one of the electrical components in the house wiring."
4. In mathematics, one of a set of vectors whose combination resultant is another vector: "In our mathematics class, we had to use one component to determine the new vector."
5. In chemistry, one of the substances necessary to describe each phase of a chemical system: "For their chemistry examination, the students were asked to determine the chemical components of a substance in the various test tubes."

1. To make up the constituent parts of; to constitute or to form: "They had an exhibit composed of modernistic paintings."
2. To make or to create by putting together parts or elements; including components or parts that make up something: "The delicious dessert which was served was composed of fruit, cream, and cookies."
3. To create or to produce something; such as, a literary or musical piece: "They were told that Oscar Levant composed some of the music for the musicals in which he was an actor."
4. To make (oneself) calm or tranquil: "She had to compose herself so she could deal calmly with the problem."
5. To settle or to adjust; to reconcile: "The husband and his wife managed to compose their differences."
6. To arrange aesthetically or artistically; for example, to arrange things in order to achieve an effect: "The garden was composed of rows of complimentary flowers, shading from pale blue to darkest blue."
7. To arrange or to set type in preparation for printing: "The typesetter was very adroit at composing eye catching headlines for each edition of the newspaper."

1. Something made from different parts: "This new law is a composite of previously suggested legislation over the years."
2. An image of a suspect's face which is created by a police artist or photographer, based on input from a witness or witnesses: "The victim described the thief and the police artist created a composite to be circulated among the police stations."
3. A structure or an entity made up of distinct components; a mixture: "The country road was a composite of gravel and packed stones."
4. A complex material; such as, wood or fiberglass, in which two or more distinct, structurally complementary substances; especially metals, ceramics, glasses, and polymers, are combined to produce structural or functional properties not present in any individual part or system: "The composite used to make her new bookcase looked just like fine mahogany."
5. A colloquial term for resin materials used in restorative dentistry: "His dentist used a new composite to build up his chipped tooth."